USA's tag line is "characters welcome." All their shows have quirky characters. A Star Trek show could be created that fit the USA style, but it would feel different classic Trek. A better network thematically would be SyFy or TNT.

Yep. I don't want a USA-style Star Trek. But how about FX, which is making a name for itself with edgy, male-skewing shows. Or go classy, premium-cable-lite, with AMC.

Edgy? Male-skewed? Yeah that sounds like crap and silly action scenes and women with big boobs and little brain. Not what I want in Trek.

Mmm, I'm thinking more Sons of Anarchy style. Lots of macho action, gunplay, fistfights, steamy sex, but also chararacter based, with complex intertwined plot arcs and some degree of intelligence. Not too different from TOS back in the day (except for the plot arcs, which I'd like to see return to Star Trek in the DS9 fashion).

When people talk about wanting Trek on HBO or Showtime, they could get something more or less like that on a basic cable lineup, except that HBO or Showtime would consider Trek too mainstream for their highfalutin' subscribers but FX would probably consider it an honor.

How about Sci-Fi?

I dunno I'd trust them. Look at their wretched lineup - nothing worth watching! Do they even want to be in the sci fi business?

why can't sci fi not have the rights to air a new Star Trek series

CBS would have to sell them the rights, but Sci Fi is part of NBC/Universal. How much could Sci Fi afford to pay for the rights, given its smaller audience expectations? Enough to make it worth CBS' while?

Could Sci Fi handle a premium property like Star Trek successfully? If they botched the job, could that actually have a negative impact on the movie franchise? It would be prudent to assume the worst, and therefore Paramount would insist on having something to say about Trek on TV (even if legally it might be hard for them to throw their weight around.)

I'd imagine that CBS would want to protect the Trek brand name by tapping into the credibility that JJ Abrams now has - he's the only reason why Trek would even return to TV - and might make his participation part of the deal. At the very least, it's CYA insurance for the CBS honchos who let Skiffy get their mitts on a valuable franchise.

Other: an internet channel that will let people out of the US subscribe. Preferably with view on demand.

Nah, there's not enough money in it to be worth anyone's while. And Paramount would hit the roof. It just make an immense effort to rehabilitate the franchise, and now CBS is pissing all over it by treating it like some cheap little webisode thing. It would be hilarious to see Paramount's reaction to such a blatant dis, but it'll never happen. If it did happen, the only reason would be corporate backstabbing of the most egregious variety, beyond a level I'd expect, even from Hollywood!

The problem is people are still used to watching TV for free, or if they pay it's for a generic access subscription, not per show.

For the immediate future, internet distribution will continue to be an adjunct to regular broadcast. A new Trek series would be available via paid or advertiser-supported download - isn't everything nowadays, particularly genre shows? - but we still have to figure out where it's going to be broadcast, since that's going to pay the bills. Even if there was a paid download of the show, it would attract a miniscule audience that couldn't possibly foot the bill.

until people show a willingness to pay per show first run internet streaming will be DOA.

Looking maybe ten years down the line, I can see all-internet lineups competing with cable. I pay $60/month to get access to all the networks, plus cable channels like skiffy, History, MSNBC, etc. What if someone put together the same package over the internet and sold it to me for $30? I'd go for that!

I already know people who are cancelling their cable and watching everything on the internet, but it's clumsy because you have to go to ABC.com for ABC shows, etc. Or you can buy them on iTunes but that adds up, and it's also clumsy.

What we need is someone who can a) aggregate all the network and cable shows, and rank them into paid tiers, undercutting cable (and allowing a la carte pricing! that would really destroy cable because everyone wants that!) and b) allow users to select their shows from a schedule and have their automatically downloaded to their PCs or TVs on a regular basis that requires no additional effort. I wanna give someone my schedule of shows and my credit card and then I don't think about it for another year.